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Need advice - swapping foam humidifiers with beads

jgibvjgibv Posts: 9,244 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Cigar 101
As I was recharging my foam humidifiers this past weekend, I realized my PG solution is almost gone....so I decided that it's finally time I upgrade my humidifiers to beads.
My humidors have consistently been in the 64-68% RH range and the new humidifiers I ordered have 65% beads.

So my question is should I leave in the old foam humidifiers until my humidity stabilizes at 65% or can I simply swap the old with the new?

Also, from what I've read on other posts, the beads only need distilled water and I should keep about 2/3 of the beads wet. Please let me know if there's anything else I need to know about the beads.

Thanks!

* I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *

Comments

  • blurrblurr Posts: 962 ✭✭
    You should be able to swap them out without worrying much, especially if your humi is currently where you like it. If its 65 and you put in lightly charged beads it should all be fine. Just don't over soak your beads. Just keep an eye on the humidity for a few days, and if you have any wild RH swings take your sticks out and put them in plastic bags until you get the beads providing the proper RH in the humi. Beads are seriously pretty much hassle free, at least in my experience, so they're hard to make a mistake with.
  • BigT06BigT06 Posts: 3,899 ✭
    I wouldn't even charge the beads at all when you get them. Just put them in the humi and monitor them for a couple days. If RH plumits, charge them... but I'd be willing to bet they are already charged enough when you get them. I know mine were.
  • laker1963laker1963 Posts: 5,046
    BigT06:
    I wouldn't even charge the beads at all when you get them. Just put them in the humi and monitor them for a couple days. If RH plumits, charge them... but I'd be willing to bet they are already charged enough when you get them. I know mine were.
    BIG PLUS ONE on this. Listen to this advice... it will save you lot's of work and heartache.
  • howtobasshowtobass Posts: 589
    laker1963:
    BigT06:
    I wouldn't even charge the beads at all when you get them. Just put them in the humi and monitor them for a couple days. If RH plumits, charge them... but I'd be willing to bet they are already charged enough when you get them. I know mine were.
    BIG PLUS ONE on this. Listen to this advice... it will save you lot's of work and heartache.
    I'll second that one. I got 65% beads and when I put them in after seasoning my humi, the RH was low 60's. I put one shot glass of distilled water in for a week and now it stays at about 66%. I didn't want to over charge the beads and didn't want them cracking over time either.
  • boydmcgowanboydmcgowan Posts: 1,101 ✭
    howtobass:
    laker1963:
    BigT06:
    I wouldn't even charge the beads at all when you get them. Just put them in the humi and monitor them for a couple days. If RH plumits, charge them... but I'd be willing to bet they are already charged enough when you get them. I know mine were.
    BIG PLUS ONE on this. Listen to this advice... it will save you lot's of work and heartache.
    I'll second that one. I got 65% beads and when I put them in after seasoning my humi, the RH was low 60's. I put one shot glass of distilled water in for a week and now it stays at about 66%. I didn't want to over charge the beads and didn't want them cracking over time either.
    Yup one more vote for Big T's advice here from me.

    I would also agree that as soon as the beads arive just toss the foam and monitor from there. What I did was pulled the foam humidifiers apart, tossed the foam and filled them with beads snapped them back shut and the humidor works as it should.

    Also some people are able to charge their beads by simply putting a shot glass full of distilled water in there, I've never been able to make that work, maybe because its so dry here in CA but who knows. Anyway, give that a try first because I think its the best way to recharge them without having them crack.
  • howtobasshowtobass Posts: 589
    boydmcgowan:
    howtobass:
    laker1963:
    BigT06:
    I wouldn't even charge the beads at all when you get them. Just put them in the humi and monitor them for a couple days. If RH plumits, charge them... but I'd be willing to bet they are already charged enough when you get them. I know mine were.
    BIG PLUS ONE on this. Listen to this advice... it will save you lot's of work and heartache.
    I'll second that one. I got 65% beads and when I put them in after seasoning my humi, the RH was low 60's. I put one shot glass of distilled water in for a week and now it stays at about 66%. I didn't want to over charge the beads and didn't want them cracking over time either.
    Yup one more vote for Big T's advice here from me.

    I would also agree that as soon as the beads arive just toss the foam and monitor from there. What I did was pulled the foam humidifiers apart, tossed the foam and filled them with beads snapped them back shut and the humidor works as it should.

    Also some people are able to charge their beads by simply putting a shot glass full of distilled water in there, I've never been able to make that work, maybe because its so dry here in CA but who knows. Anyway, give that a try first because I think its the best way to recharge them without having them crack.
    It's interesting that the shot glass didn't work for you, but makes sense sine you are in a dry area. I'm in south georgia where it's still humid. Good to know. Thanks for that!
  • jgibvjgibv Posts: 9,244 ✭✭✭✭✭
    BigT06:
    I wouldn't even charge the beads at all when you get them. Just put them in the humi and monitor them for a couple days. If RH plumits, charge them... but I'd be willing to bet they are already charged enough when you get them. I know mine were.
    boydmcgowan:
    Yup one more vote for Big T's advice here from me.

    I would also agree that as soon as the beads arive just toss the foam and monitor from there.
    Ok guys, thanks! I'll just throw away the foam humidifiers and swap it for the beads. Also I'll skip on charging the beads since the humidor is already at a pretty stable RH.
    I'm going to start by swapping the humidifier in my largest humidor and I'll keep a close eye on the RH with my digital hydro. Once I'm sure that's stable I'll switch the digital hydro over and swap the humidifiers in my medium and then small humi...

    boydmcgowan:
    What I did was pulled the foam humidifiers apart, tossed the foam and filled them with beads snapped them back shut and the humidor works as it should.
    I thought about doing that to save some $$ but after looking at the humidifiers, I decided it would be more trouble and mess than it's worth so I just ordered brand new casing and all.

    * I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *

  • boydmcgowanboydmcgowan Posts: 1,101 ✭
    howtobass:
    boydmcgowan:
    howtobass:
    laker1963:
    BigT06:
    I wouldn't even charge the beads at all when you get them. Just put them in the humi and monitor them for a couple days. If RH plumits, charge them... but I'd be willing to bet they are already charged enough when you get them. I know mine were.
    BIG PLUS ONE on this. Listen to this advice... it will save you lot's of work and heartache.
    I'll second that one. I got 65% beads and when I put them in after seasoning my humi, the RH was low 60's. I put one shot glass of distilled water in for a week and now it stays at about 66%. I didn't want to over charge the beads and didn't want them cracking over time either.
    Yup one more vote for Big T's advice here from me.

    I would also agree that as soon as the beads arive just toss the foam and monitor from there. What I did was pulled the foam humidifiers apart, tossed the foam and filled them with beads snapped them back shut and the humidor works as it should.

    Also some people are able to charge their beads by simply putting a shot glass full of distilled water in there, I've never been able to make that work, maybe because its so dry here in CA but who knows. Anyway, give that a try first because I think its the best way to recharge them without having them crack.
    It's interesting that the shot glass didn't work for you, but makes sense sine you are in a dry area. I'm in south georgia where it's still humid. Good to know. Thanks for that!
    Right on man, yeah the lack of humidity in the bay area is my theory why, becuase I don't think I'm doing it wrong, and my humi holds humidity ok. I should confess though that I do have about twice as many beads in there than I need, so maybe thats it too. I use the two humi pucks that came with the humidor and also have a third converted sponge humidifier that I keep uncharged and glued to the underside of the tray to absorbe the excess becuase I use the 70% beads. So maybe thats the reason why it never worked. I don't know, but I'm also a "cello off" kind of guy so I really try to avoid open water sources in my humi anyway. . . . so that made me just sort of scrap the plan after trying once or twice.

    To recharge I just use a dropper for baby meds and squirt 3-6 mils of distilled water on each humipuck with beads directly and some do crack, but they work when cracked anyway, as long as they stay inside the puck. And that little amount of water (~10 mils for the 150 count humi) holds me steady for a month or two. Anyway, thats just the method I use and since making the switch to beads and a digital hygro a year ago I've never been happier. Can't believe I rocked sponges and the analog hygro for years.
  • boydmcgowanboydmcgowan Posts: 1,101 ✭
    jgibv:
    I'm going to start by swapping the humidifier in my largest humidor and I'll keep a close eye on the RH with my digital hydro. Once I'm sure that's stable I'll switch the digital hydro over and swap the humidifiers in my medium and then small humi...

    boydmcgowan:
    What I did was pulled the foam humidifiers apart, tossed the foam and filled them with beads snapped them back shut and the humidor works as it should.
    I thought about doing that to save some $$ but after looking at the humidifiers, I decided it would be more trouble and mess than it's worth so I just ordered brand new casing and all.
    Sweet, and yeah man you run the same setup I do. 1 larger humi and one small one with only 1 digital hygro between them. The beads hold it so steady though that you won't need more than that and can flip flop it whenever you want to monitor.

    And yeah I did repurpose the old sponge ones becuase I'm a bit stubborn more than anything. I used sponges humidifiers and the analog hygros for more years than I'm proud of. So in that time I wasted some cash on some expensive sponge humidifiers (one of them does look cool) to try and keep a more stable environment, so when I switched to beads I was too stubborn to throw them out hahaha. . . . . Well they work now, so I guess I'm happy.
  • jgibvjgibv Posts: 9,244 ✭✭✭✭✭
    boydmcgowan:
    Sweet, and yeah man you run the same setup I do. 1 larger humi and one small one with only 1 digital hygro between them. The beads hold it so steady though that you won't need more than that and can flip flop it whenever you want to monitor.
    Cool....I love having a multiple humi setup. I don't like having flavored and non-flavored cigars in the same humi. I usually don't let flavored cigars sit that long but it worries me that the flavor will "bleed" onto my normal smokes.
    And actually I have 3 humis, a "large" 150-ct for my everyday smokes, a medium 75-ct for flavored cigars, and this past summer I picked up a small 20-ct humi for aging.
    So I've definitely been worried that the RH isn't consistent. Glad to hear that the beads have worked well for you, and everyone else who has posted on here.
    boydmcgowan:
    So in that time I wasted some cash on some expensive sponge humidifiers (one of them does look cool) to try and keep a more stable environment, so when I switched to beads I was too stubborn to throw them out hahaha. . . . . Well they work now, so I guess I'm happy.
    I can understand wanting to repurpose them, especially if they look cool. Mine weren't really anything worth keeping as they're just the cheap-o black plastic ones that come stock with the humidors.

    * I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *

  • jadeltjadelt Posts: 763 ✭✭
    I took my old plastic/foam humidifiers apart, threw out the sponge stuff, and filled them with beads. One of them I had to put in plastic window screening cuz the holes were too big. Now they work great.
  • jgibvjgibv Posts: 9,244 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So I got the new bead humidifiers in the mail today.
    As suggested, I took out the old foam humidifiers and swapped in the beads. The RH was 67 before I took the foam out and, since I swapped them about 6 hours ago, it's dropped to 61%.
    I know I need to be patient while it stabilizes but that seemed like quite a drop so I put the foam humidifier back in next to the beads.

    Do you think I should leave the foam in for a couple days while the beads stabilize, should I try charging the beads then remove the foam, or is there something else I should try?

    Thanks!

    * I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *

  • kaspera79kaspera79 Posts: 7,257 ✭✭✭
    jgibv:
    So I got the new bead humidifiers in the mail today.
    As suggested, I took out the old foam humidifiers and swapped in the beads. The RH was 67 before I took the foam out and, since I swapped them about 6 hours ago, it's dropped to 61%.
    I know I need to be patient while it stabilizes but that seemed like quite a drop so I put the foam humidifier back in next to the beads.

    Do you think I should leave the foam in for a couple days while the beads stabilize, should I try charging the beads then remove the foam, or is there something else I should try?

    Thanks!
    If you took the humidity source ( foam) out of the humidor, it would make sense that the humidity level would drop. I would charge the bead, to about the halfway point... I lightly wipe down my humidor, while some here argue against that... These sticks need to have some humidity supplied to them at this point as they can't produce it on their own. I would keep the foam out. No need to keep making adjustments when you finally take it out for good.
  • jgibvjgibv Posts: 9,244 ✭✭✭✭✭
    kaspera79:
    If you took the humidity source ( foam) out of the humidor, it would make sense that the humidity level would drop. I would charge the bead, to about the halfway point... I lightly wipe down my humidor, while some here argue against that... These sticks need to have some humidity supplied to them at this point as they can't produce it on their own. I would keep the foam out. No need to keep making adjustments when you finally take it out for good.
    Thanks Kaspera,
    Tried your suggestion and it's working perfectly....I charged the beads about halfway and removed the foam. The humidity rose back up to 68% and has been stable for the last 12+ hours. A couple other folks suggested that the beads would come pre-charged and I could simply switch them but I guess my beads were not charged enough when I got them.

    * I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *

  • kaspera79kaspera79 Posts: 7,257 ✭✭✭
    jgibv:
    kaspera79:
    If you took the humidity source ( foam) out of the humidor, it would make sense that the humidity level would drop. I would charge the bead, to about the halfway point... I lightly wipe down my humidor, while some here argue against that... These sticks need to have some humidity supplied to them at this point as they can't produce it on their own. I would keep the foam out. No need to keep making adjustments when you finally take it out for good.
    Thanks Kaspera,
    Tried your suggestion and it's working perfectly....I charged the beads about halfway and removed the foam. The humidity rose back up to 68% and has been stable for the last 12+ hours. A couple other folks suggested that the beads would come pre-charged and I could simply switch them but I guess my beads were not charged enough when I got them.
    I'm glad I could be of help. Enjoy those sticks.
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